Department of Political Science
Department News Flash
Read the latest news from the Political Science department.
Read the latest news from the MPA Program.
Please note: The newsletter is available in .pdf format. You may download the Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader from the Adobe web site.
Congratulations to our New MPA Alumni
Our new MPA Summer 2009 Graduate is: Ralf Walters.
Our new NPM Certificate Summer 2009 Graduates are: Kendra Britto and Jeri Miller
Send us your news!
Edward Branscomb ('95) is part of the inaugural class in their third year at the Elon University School of Law. He is also working part-time with Egerton & Associates, P.A., in Greensboro.
Jason Cannon ('98) was appointed as the new Vice President of Governmental Affairs for the Greensboro Partnership in March 2009. Jason most recently served as Staff to Representative Julia Howard and the House Committee on Finance in the North Carolina General Assembly. He has a MPA from N.C. State.
Susan Crotts ('06) is enjoying her position in the Housing and Community Development department for the City of Greensboro as the Contracts Manager and Reports Specialist. Much of her work involves creating data management systems for federally funded grant programs. She also is engaging the Institute of Government at Chapel Hill to help her department evaluate their involvement in homeless prevention service programs.
Stephen Diggs ('73) currently works for VistaScape Security Systems where he has led the technical aspects of the company's global expansion after being purchased by Seimens Building Technologies. This responsibility has provided him the exciting opportunity of traveling to China on more than one occasion. Stephen has moved to an area outside of Atlanta, GA in 1979 and resides there to this day.
Neal Dixon ('88) is the director of the Office of the Tax Collector for Mecklenburg County where he has worked for 12 years. Neal is also active in the North Carolina Tax Collection Association as an officer and works on legislative issues through the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. He currently lives in Huntersville, NC.
Grant Duffield ('94) is currently the City Manager for Tega Cay, a community outside of Charlotte, NC. He has recently become a member of the Greek Alumni Board at UNCG and looks forward to becoming an active Alumni member.
Christine Franklin ('78) is a lecturer and honors professor as well as the Undergraduate Coordinator in Statistics at the University of Georgia.
Katie McCarthy Greene ('01) graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill Law School. She is currently living in Dallas, Texas, where she is an Assistant District Attorney in the criminal division at the Dallas District Attorney's Office.
April Hutchinson Harris (MPA '01) became Executive Director of Action Greensboro in January 2008, after working for the City of Greensboro, and before that, for Downtown Greensboro, Inc. She was married in 2007.
Denise Horn ('93) is an assistant professor of International Affairs at Northwestern University in Boston. She received a PhD in political science from Rutgers University.
Micah Huggins ('02) graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill Law School in 2006, and passed the NC Bar Exam in 2008. He is employed by a legal consulting firm in Charlotte.
Katie Hughes ('06) served a term with the American Red Cross through the Americorps program in Charlotte, NC. Recently, she moved to Washington, DC for a job with the American Bar Association as the Project Assistant for the Death Penalty Representation Project. She plans to apply for law school in the near future.
Tiffany Ebron Hunter ('93) recently completed her Ph.D. in Higher Eduction Leadership and is now an Assistant Professor of Birth-Kindergarten Education at Catawba College in Salisbury, NC.
Michael Kilgore ('05 ) completed his law degree at Liberty University Law School and has recently passed the bar.
Shaune' Langston ('99) went on to law school at Northwestern University after graduating from UNCG. She later worked for a law firm in Indiana before moving to Northern Virginia as a real estate/corporate attorney at Washington, DC's largest firm, Hogan & Hartson LLP. She resides there with her three sons and husband of 12 years.
Steven Mandurano ('04) is the Director of Transportation Security Policy at the American Association of Airport Executives. In this position, Steven focuses on the strategic communications of the Security Policy Department, ensuring that members are kept up-to-date with timely and accurate information.
Melissa Midgett ('01) is back in Greensboro, now working on Kay Hagan's U.S. Senate campaign. She formerly worked for NC Senator Hagan in the General Assembly, but more recently was employed in Treasurer Richard Moore's campaign for Governor.
Bruce Oakley (MPA'02) graduated from UNCG's MPA program in 2002, and now serves as the Town Manager of Oak Ridge, NC.
Justin N. Outling ('05) graduated from Duke Law School in May '08, and passed the NC bar exam in September. He is working for federal district court Judge William O'Steen, Jr. in Greensboro for a year. He and his wife Cora live in Greensboro.
Harry Paul ('05) is attending law school at Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, VA. In addition, Harry works as an intern in the Commonwealth Attorney's office in Washington County, VA.
Aislinn Sheehan ('06) is living in Washington, DC, and working as a Legal Assistant at an animal protection nonprofit called Alley Cat Allies (www.alleycat.org).
Michael Smith ('86) is a Senior Software/Systems Engineer for an IT consultant that works for the Department of Defense. Presently, he resides in Fort Washington, MD.
Abigail Greeson Steelhammer ('91) works as an Assistant Nurse Manager for the Medical-Surgical and Intensive Care Units for Presbyterian Hospital in Huntersville, in the Lake Norman area. In addition, she is taking classes at Pfeiffer University in the MHA/MBA program. She hopes to combine her political science degree with her healthcare background to pursue a career related to health policy.
Barron Thompson ('01) taught at Eastern Guilford High School for the past five years before entering the Elon School of Law last year. He currently interns with Smith, Alexander and Morgan in Asheboro, NC. Barron lives with his wife, Emil and dog, Holly in Walkertown, NC. He recently passed his North Carolina Bar Exam.
Anne Tubaugh ('00 ) is the Director of Fund Development for the Red Cross in Cabarrus and Union Counties. She is also working on completing her MPA degree at UNCG.
Amanda Veazey ('06) is currently pursuing her Masters in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management at Virginia Tech.
Alumni Contributions to the Department and MPA Enrichment Funds
THANKS, ALUMNI, FOR YOUR SUPPORT
We appreciate the contributions of our alumni to our department enrichment accounts, whether the MPA Enrichment Fund, or the Political Science Enrichment Fund. We depend on these funds for student travel to conferences, lunch meetings with our advisory boards, the MPA alumni reunion, and receptions for campus speakers. Recent contributions allowed us to send MPA students to the NC City/County Managers Association annual conference, host the Congress to Campus program in March 2007, and partially fund the Washington Summer Study Session.
If you are interested in contributing to the department, please designate your gift for the Political Science Enrichment Fund or MPA Enrichment Fund during UNCG’s annual campaign, or send a check directly to:
UNCG Advancement Services,
P.O. Box 26170,
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170
Please mark your gift for either the MPA Enrichment Fund or the Political Science
Enrichment Fund.
Thanks to the following alumni who contributed in 2008 to the MPA Enrichment Fund:
- John Bennett (MPA '84)
- Keith Lohmann (MPA '87)
- Kelly Mills (MPA '04)
- John Gribble (MPA '91)
- James Hilliard (MPA '78)
- Wesley Ward (MPA '07)
- Roger Dalton (MPA '78)
- Kinsey Gimbel (MPA '00)
- William Zell (MPA '00)
- Karen Vestal Hays (MPA '97)
- Joseph Wood (MPA '99)
- M. Christy Avent (MPA '97)
- Nancy Hunter (MPA '08)
- Ronald Norwood (MPA '81)
- D. Clint Perkins (MPA '04)
- J. Timothy Saunders (MPA '90)
- W. Frank Willis (MPA '81)
- Laura Hill Reece (MPA '95)
Next Generation Fund for 2008
- Dyan Arkin (MPA '02)
- Richard Stengenga (MPA '92)
- John Gribble (MPA '91)
- James Hilliard (MPA '78)
- Wesley Ward (MPA '07)
- Roger Dalton (MPA '78)
- Sherry Hay (MPA '81)
- Blair Rankin (MPA '83)
- Ben Woody (MPA '03)
- Karen Vestal Hays (MPA '97)
- Martha Hopkins (MPA '87)
- Joseph Wood (MPA '99)
- Cheryl Hopkins (MPA '03)
- Lisa Lopez (MPA '08)
- W. Frank Willis (MPA '81)
- Ruth DeHoog
We also acknowledge the support of the following local foundations and enrichment funds that have helped undergraduate and graduate students continue their education.
• Annie Moring Alexander Scholarship Fund (undergraduate scholarships)
• Louise B. Alexander Endowment (for public affairs activities for students)
• Debbie Beatty Scholarship Fund (for public affairs activities for students)
We have five new foundation scholarships and the contributors to these scholarships are: The Cemala Foundation, The Bryan Foundation, The Weaver Foundation, The Toleo Foundation and the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro..